Iona Abbey
Iona Abbey
Iona Abbey is the Category A former Benedictine monastery on Iona in the Inner Hebrides, on the site of St Columba’s foundation of 563 and in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
- Location
- Iona, Western Isles
- Country
- Scotland
- County
- Western Isles
- City / town
- Iona
- Address
- Iona, Western Isles, PA76 6SN
- Postcode
- PA76 6SN
- Built
- c.1200; restored 1902–10
- Denomination
- Historic Scotland
- Dedication
- Mary
- Parish
- Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon
- Grade
- Category A
- Style
- Medieval Benedictine
- Materials
- Stone masonry, 13th–15th century with 20th-century restoration
- Grid reference
- NM 286 245
- Opening hours
- Open all year April to September: 9:30am to 5:30pm and October to March: 10am to 4pm (HS charges apply).
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
Overview
Columba’s monastic settlement became a major centre of Celtic Christianity. Around 1200 Reginald, son of Somerled, established a Benedictine abbey (papal confirmation 1203) dedicated to St Mary. The cruciform church was developed through the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries: an aisle-less nave and choir with transepts, later choir work, and a major fifteenth-century campaign that widened the nave and rebuilt the west front and east end. The community was pillaged in 1561 after the Reformation. The buildings passed through lay hands until they were presented to the Church of Scotland in 1899.
Restoration of the abbey church in 1902–10 under the Iona Cathedral Trust reused extensive medieval masonry. Cloister ranges retain thirteenth- to fifteenth-century fabric; the west range is a twentieth-century structure. The wider monastic settlement is a scheduled monument. The Iona Community occupies the restored buildings alongside visitor access to the abbey and nunnery.